Infinitum

Here is my Dark Dark Tanker - it is one of my most fun and solid builds. If you have any questions please let me know Omega Infinitum - Tanker (Dark Armor - Dark Melee).mxd

I would do this for you but I am not near a computer until Monday, but you can take this build - which res caps everything but cold and has 50% melee defense also. All you need to do is swap in SS for Rad melee while retaining the same slotting and you have probably the most survivable Rad Armor Tanker you can find. Radianite - Tanker (Radiation Armor - Radiation Melee).mxd

I will take a look at your build on mids when I get back home - out of town until Monday- but first thought is I would probably drop overload and put bone smasher in the rotation one slotted - bone smasher is too good to not get on most ATs (aside from stalkers, which doesn't mean it isn't good on stalkers but with stalkers having AS you can get by without it). It is useful still even just one slotting it, but that is what I would do. And I am on the fence about power crash on anything but stalkers - stalkers version is great and the only AOE so it is a must there. Tankers it gets the tanker AOE bonus also so it is useful there, brutes and scrappers you can skip it, I am on the fence about it on the Novaforge build and may revisit it soon.

I had to dig this up, but my best pylon time was 57 seconds with the EM EA - average around 1 min 26 seconds. I believe the 57 had a lot of luck rolled in with it - if you use lore pets also you are dinging the pylon around 30-40 seconds. I have taken out GMs and AVs before also frequently and fairly easily.

Admittedly - I am still a novice with bio armor, but I remember when the new EM came out my EA was hitting faster pylon times than EM Bio stalkers others were using to compare and also test with. That honestly may have changed. But from the comparison EM seems to mesh the best with EA IMO because that attack chain I posted is lethal with no gaps - it maximizes the ATOs well to gain double focus and also double or triple build up in some cases. And while Shield or Bio may occasionally out burst EA - neither feel as smooth to me in maintaining that effective attack chain which is key to being a ST killer. If you wanted to maximize for AOE you would divert to a completely different chain but you rarely need to because you are literally one shotting just about everything not an EB or higher with that chain with the big guns FET, TF, and AS. That reminds me also, another key is to leverage the ATO hide proc, to crit from hide to gain double focus for that chain to work by getting the double FET. Having said all that I really don't think you could go wrong with EA, Shield, or Bio here. EA is my preference because of feels

That and also - even though Shield can output slightly more burst damage through AAO, EA is smoother because it has end/hp maintenance and shield does not outside of getting ageless core to fuel endurance - but still has no hp maintenance, whereas EA does.

Actually the EN EA stalker gets a buff to Power Crash that the scrapper and other ATs do not - so it actually has better AOE dmg than the scrapper version due to the dmg being higher due to it being proportional to the recharge being higher on stalkers vs the other ATs also. Stalker power crash is the best version and probably the best aoe for EM across all ATs.

Correct - and the scrapper equivalent isnt bad either - however the stalker is just perfectly balanced with the ATO Function, Energy Melees focus mechanic, and the extra ST whopper of AS. The synergy of those three is what carries it slightly ahead where EM EA is concerned. AS - TF - fast ET - EP - AS - EP - Fast ET - EP - AS. That is a very simple fluid ST chain that maximizes potential with that combo as well.

I second this - with the right build - this is the most optimized single target dps killer that is out.

Only if it trades one or the other of the fast recharging heal and +end click.

That is my shield - with only 1 stack of Phalanx Fighting, 1 stack of MotT - and hover deactivated. It is a relatively balanced build that could easily gain more defense and resistances. It also can rotate OwtS and melee core effectively and near perma capping res in all categories. I am not saying SR is bad - its very close - but close behind shield with all the added utility shield can provide - without having to let your health dip to get there also.

I am not sure which shield builds you are using, but your assessment if off by a good margin because shield defenses rival SRs and the resists arent paper thin - nor do you have to lose hp to achieve them.

I was more speaking to the combination of the perks you get with shield - the DDR via double stacked active defense would put you around 88 vs 95 with SR - as far as the defenses go between the two its splitting hairs between my two builds - SR has the edge slightly in Melee but AOE and Ranged are virtually equal - until you stack phalanx fighting 3 times then Shield has the advantage in both resistances and defenses - because at that point MotT is at lease double stacked with resists at or above 70% to all and higher in some categories.. And that is not even taking into account AAO which boosts your damage - reduces the enemies damage - which would synergize nicely with the -to hit from dark. Two last features that favor shield over many of the other primaries are One with the Shield and Melee Core - you can rotate these for virtually insane levels of mitigation nearly perma - very little gaps in protection. Lastly the synergy with Dark - you have a heal in the attack siphon life which fills a void that shield has not having a heal and then an extra AOE attack in Shield Charge. That's why my analysis favors Shield especially when paired with Dark Melee.

If your ultimate goal is to be hit as little as possible i would probably go invul/dark out of the choices you provided. However, if you want to take your metric to the next level Shield/Dark would be the ultimate "bet you cant hit me" machine - would have the best DDR, and also decent resists to go along with the magic Whiff machine.

One thing to keep in mind about melee core Vs melee radial is that melee core grants a huge regen boost as well where radial does not - which adds a needed layer you otherwise would not have with shield for hard mode content. Edit. I meant to say melee core even with invul instead of shield. I just had shield on the brain

Thats awesome! Nicely done!

Before i say what i am about to say - let me preface this by stating I am not knocking anyone here - because i get it. But, what they or anyone wants is to be a hero - "look at mah healz" "look at mah bubblz" etc. And why shouldnt they? It has its place and i totally get the sentiment for being the unseen force that holds and protects the team and withers the enemy. The problem we have is its more of a lets wither the enemy and we dont need the unseen force because by all that is holy you will see our force. Here again why shouldnt it? The invention system was released to patch holes and make the vulnerable invulnerable again. That is how it was pitched Neither mindset is wrong, how do you reconcile it? I dunno. I think everyone needs to find their nich and others that enjoy it - because i gotta believe any type is out there. Thats my .02 - adjusted for inflation .15

There are a ton of solo friendly lvl 50 contacts to run mission and story arcs. Two of my favorites is the DA series leading up to the showdown with MOT and the Belladona Arc - really all of the high level Praetorian content is great.

Try this out - exactly the same as my Elec/Psi Melee by the numbers - but SS with cross punch Tanker (Electric Armor - Super Stength).mxd

No worries, this is good stuff!

I think instant healing should be the adjustment - because when it is active you ate basically bio or willpower at that point. But either way the base regen needs IMO to be boosted to where you can easily reach 1k regen without instant healing. MoG i would leave alone because it should be reserved for tough alpha strikes. I agree with you also about resistances, however, in regen's current state neither base regen or res targets are high enough to sustain you. 100% agree it would be nice to not chase defense but in this case unless it is adjusted i believe it serves you better than res. Basically NOTHING in the game should have better regen than Regen.

Gotcha - do you see my point though? - regen on the Regen set should be at least on par with bio and willpower - with other perks like ddr. The set would flourish with that IMO.

I dont have that exact build but would be easy to piece together. I will have one for you tomorrow - any pref on travel power?

Could you post your resistances? - i would like to see what your road map looks like to build off of it to see if i can hack into a stronger regen that way.

This illustrates my over arching point. No other set requires that level of frankencobble - and regen still isnt as stable as the others. lol Out of curiosity @Troo could you post your resistances?